That's very interesting news. If the Medium-format body has a price tag on the level of the 5D MkII or D700 with better image quality and good enough high iso performance at iso 1600 I would sell my 5D MkII and lenses and jump in right away.
Great interview. Particularly interesting is the use of SR technology to achieve 100% viewfinder accuracy in the K-7. Very innovative and novel approach.
"We don't like to be a follower of 135 full frame DSLR makes, instead of it, we will be a challenger for the medium format DSLR market by providing supreme image quality."
Exactly what they should be doing in my opin. As I have said before, they cannot hope to compete with Canon, Nikon or Sony in the FF 35 arena so they should try to leapfrog them by going to MF digital at a price point that the current players are incapable of matching (due to their much higher overhead and service costs). I think Pentax is on the right track for a major rebound here. This could shake up the MF digital market once again.
Sr.Cordeiro wrote:
That's very interesting news. If the Medium-format body has a price tag on the level of the 5D MkII or D700 with better image quality and good enough high iso performance at iso 1600 I would sell my 5D MkII and lenses and jump in right away.
That's a lot to ask from a camera with 2.6x the sensor size at the same price point.
If it's priced remotely like the current FX bodies, has true ISO 50, and has half-decent ISO 800 it will be very difficult for me to resist. I think it's overkill to ask that it have the high-ISO of a D3S, or even D300, but medium format shooters, especially people using their own lighting, will be very happy with an affordable 6x4.5 solution... let's hope it's true 6x4.5 and no crop factor.
Sr.Cordeiro wrote:
That's very interesting news. If the Medium-format body has a price tag on the level of the 5D MkII or D700 with better image quality and good enough high iso performance at iso 1600 I would sell my 5D MkII and lenses and jump in right away.
Won't be that cheap. It's higher end than a D3x or 5DmkII...36MPix w/ much more dynamic range (though definitely not FPS because medium format sensors aren't fast); the sensor itself costs $2-3K. AFAIK, it's a crop MF sensor as well....there are very few full size MF sensors on the market right now and their cameras cost $30K
Last I heard, MSRP should be around $10K w/ a kit lens, so maybe $6-8K street? Still a steal for a medium format camera...used MF backs are $10K...
Interesting interview, thank you for the link. Crop factor isn't an issue if they launch lenses to match, witch they will apparently do. When he mentions the amateur market in particular, I doubt the body will sell for more than $5,000. If they can do that, they will open up a new volume market for MF. That would be a very interesting option for many photographers, myself included.
That's a remarkably frank interview. I'll be interested to see this medium-format camera.
Jorgen: Mr Kitazawa didn't say the lenses would be matched to the sensor format. I would think they would be standard 645 lenses, to cater for any developments in the future (and to sell to a few film users).
Depending on the sensor they use, this could be a very attractive camera for the kind of amateur who today uses a high-pixel-count EOS or Alpha. It will almost certainly be a CCD sensor with excellent low-ISO performance, if only because of its sheer size.
The issue will be whether Pentax can make enough money selling "affordable" medium-format cameras to stay in business. If they convince us that they're not going to go under in the next few years, they're more likely to get people to invest in an expensive camera system.
Specularist wrote:
Jorgen: Mr Kitazawa didn't say the lenses would be matched to the sensor format. I would think they would be standard 645 lenses, to cater for any developments in the future (and to sell to a few film users).
The previously announced new lenses for this digital body were matched to the smaller than 645 sensor size. Since they are using a different sensor now, I don't know if it is the same physical size as the one originally designed for. My bet is that it is and the newer lenses will not cover full frame 645.
Current concept 2010 645D price likely does not include round trip airfare to and from Japan. Something one might want to consider as this medium format dslr is a Homemarket Japan only offer. Pentax USA official felt Pentax USA could not sell more than 200 units here according to his interview below. If 645D are not officially imported to USA I highly doubt grey market buyers will get repair support in USA.
Wednesday 4th March 2009
Chris Cheesman
Pentax has revived plans to launch its long-awaited 645 Digital medium-format camera, four years after a mock-up was first shown.
The camera will go on display at the Photo Imaging Expo show in Tokyo later this month, said John Carlson, product marketing and support manager at Pentax USA.
He told Amateur Photographer that the 645 Digital is expected to go on sale in Japan.
However, it is unclear whether the camera will be sold in Europe.
And Carlson told us that it will not be marketed in the United States because Pentax predicted it would only sell 200 units there.
We understand that Pentax Japan has decided to aim the camera at the high-end market, so it seems unlikely it will be an affordable, enthusiast-level, model.
Last year, Pentax appeared to have scrapped development of the camera.
A press report in Japan had suggested that 'developments of the new camera body introduced on various occasions, as well as the SMC Pentax-D FA645 55mm f/2.8 will be virtually discontinued'.
Only a dummy version of the camera has been shown to journalists - paraded at numerous trade shows since it was first mooted at Tokyo's Photo Imaging Expo show in March 2005.
At the time of writing, no-one from Pentax Europe was available for comment at PMA.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
The previously announced new lenses for this digital body were matched to the smaller than 645 sensor size. Since they are using a different sensor now, I don't know if it is the same physical size as the one originally designed for. My bet is that it is and the newer lenses will not cover full frame 645.
Actually, the previously announce D-FA 55/2.8 is 645 format, not for the crop. All D-FA series lenses are full format. D-FA indicates a full-format lens with the DA(crop series) updates (QSF focus, may not have an aperture ring, latest coatings).
Specularist wrote:
Jorgen: Mr Kitazawa didn't say the lenses would be matched to the sensor format. I would think they would be standard 645 lenses, to cater for any developments in the future (and to sell to a few film users).
They don't need to match lenses to the sensor format. A lens with an image circle that is too large is no problem. If the sensor is smaller than 645, they need a wider WA lens, in addition to updating coatings etc. to use on digital cameras.
mawz wrote:
Actually, the previously announce D-FA 55/2.8 is 645 format, not for the crop. All D-FA series lenses are full format. D-FA indicates a full-format lens with the DA(crop series) updates (QSF focus, may not have an aperture ring, latest coatings).
That's interesting. If the lens is designed as a standard lens, which is what Pentax claims, that would indicate that the format is not much larger than FF 35mm. To have the lens cover FF 645 as well seems like quite an achievement for a traditional standard lens (a non wide angle, double gauss design for instance). Pentax does indeed claim the lens will cover FF 645 (and also claims it to be a new standard lens for the digital 645 format): http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/news/2007/200708.html
If the lens is instead designed as a retro-focus, wide angle lens, which is what a FF 645 55MM lens would normally be designed as, then it would not normally give optimal characteristics as a normal lens. Hmm. I'm curious to see what happens here.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
That's interesting. If the lens is designed as a standard lens, which is what Pentax claims, that would indicate that the format is not much larger than FF 35mm. To have the lens cover FF 645 as well seems like quite an achievement for a traditional standard lens (a non wide angle, double gauss design for instance). Pentax does indeed claim the lens will cover FF 645 (and also claims it to be a new standard lens for the digital 645 format): http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/news/2007/200708.html
If the lens is instead designed as a retro-focus, wide angle lens, which is what a FF 645 55MM lens would normally be designed as, then it would not normally give optimal characteristics as a normal lens. Hmm. I'm curious to see what happens here. ...Show more →
Pentax is being a little ambivalent. The D-FA 55/2.8 is merely an update of their excellent FA 55/2.8 wide to give the 645D a normal. It will very definitely be retrofocus, you simply can't do a 55mm with the >68mm register of P645 mount any other way.
Jorgen Udvang wrote:
They don't need to match lenses to the sensor format. A lens with an image circle that is too large is no problem. If the sensor is smaller than 645, they need a wider WA lens, in addition to updating coatings etc. to use on digital cameras.
More importantly, they need a lens line which is actually in production. From a functional standpoint, all the FA series P645 lenses need is a 28. But since the FA's stopped production, they actually need to start making all of them again.
mawz wrote:
More importantly, they need a lens line which is actually in production. From a functional standpoint, all the FA series P645 lenses need is a 28. But since the FA's stopped production, they actually need to start making all of them again.
That's probably the smallest problem. If the tooling is still intact, and given that the digital 645 has been planned since long before they stopped making the film version, it's just a question of re-activating it. Production of MF lenses was never a high-volume industry and probably includes a fair amount of manual work. Remember that few lenses, and probably none from Pentax, are in continuous production anyway. My guess is that they'll manufacture the lenses at their factory in Vietnam. As far as I know, their Limited lenses are already being assembled there.
October 1, 2008
Pentax: No Longer Made In Japan
Hoya has ceased production of all Pentax brand cameras and lenses in Japan. The manufacturing operations will move to existing factories in the Philippines and Vietnam. This completes the off-shoring of all camera equipment, as DSLR, lenses and compact camera manufacturing was previously sent to the aforementioned countries and Taiwan.
Hamada, 50, formerly president of Dell Inc.’s Japan unit, took over day-to-day operations at Pentax, Japan’s oldest maker of single-lens reflex cameras, in April 2008 and oversaw the closure of the company’s last domestic digital-camera factory.
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Jorgen Udvang wrote:
That's probably the smallest problem. If the tooling is still intact, and given that the digital 645 has been planned since long before they stopped making the film version, it's just a question of re-activating it. Production of MF lenses was never a high-volume industry and probably includes a fair amount of manual work. Remember that few lenses, and probably none from Pentax, are in continuous production anyway. My guess is that they'll manufacture the lenses at their factory in Vietnam. As far as I know, their Limited lenses are already being assembled there.
I feel that Pentax could produce the 645D for about the same price as a Nikon D3,just look at their past efforts with medium format film bodies,cheaper than Mamiya and Bronica at the time...just because Pentax may pull this off doesnt mean the quality will suffer..
